Profit Forecasts Hurt Stocks; Morgan Stanley Posts
Decline

NEW YORK -- Investors continued to seek protection from deteriorating earnings forecasts, selling off stocks with bad profit prospects but buying market leaders with strong franchises.

Shares of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter dropped $6.19 to $89.75, after the brokerage company came through with fiscal third-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street's profit projections by eight cents. Shares of other big brokerage firms also slipped....